JOIN USUddhav-Rahul interaction planned as insult to Savarkar snowballs into a major political issue
Amid the political war over Rahul Gandhi’s statements on Savarkar in Maharashtra, an interaction between former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and the Congress leader is being planned to iron out the difference even as the ruling Shiv Sena-BJP mounted a major offensive against the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi.
Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (28 May, 1883 -26 February, 1966), is a revered icon in Maharashtra.
The ruling Shiv Sena-BJP saffron alliance, headed by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, is now planning to hold Swatantryaveer Savarkar Gaurav Yatras across the state at various levels.
Thackeray, who now heads the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), in his Shiv-garjana rally at Malegaon in Nashik district on Sunday evening has asked Gandhi to refrain from insulting Savarkar.
Thackeray, in his rally, had said: “Savarkar is like God to us…I am publicly telling him (Gandhi) that we would not tolerate insults to Savarkar. We have come together to save democracy and the Constitution…if we miss the time things would be difficult…if they sit there (in power) again democracy is finished…I am not fighting this battle to become the Chief Minister but to save democracy.”
The latest round of controversy erupted after Gandhi, in his press conference in New Delhi, Gandhi, a day after he was disqualified as Lok Sabha MP, said: “….my name is not Savarkar, my name is Gandhi....a Gandhi does not apologise for what's right.”
Some leaders of the Sharad Pawar-led NCP too have expressed displeasure of the repeated insult of Savarkar.
Veteran NCP leader and former minister Chhagan Bhujbal said that Savarkar is a revered personality of Maharashtra. “We must know that Savarkar is revered in Maharashtra. We can avoid such statements.”
Meanwhile, state Congress President and former Assembly Speaker Nana Patole and Thackeray’s close aide and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut indicated that a meeting or telephonic integration between the Shiv Sena (UBT) chief and the Congress leader has been planned. “Congress party's stance towards Savarkar is clear from the beginning, there is nothing new in it. But the opposition is trying to split the MVA over the issue, but they will not succeed, we will continue to be united,” Patole said, adding that Gandhi and Thackeray would discuss the Savarkar issue.
Raut said that he would call on Gandhi in a day or two in New Delhi to discuss and amicably resolve the matter.
On his part, Shinde said that Savarkar had spent several years in the Cellular Jail in Andaman Islands and Gandhi should go and stay at the Andamans jail for one day if he can.
“He (Thackeray) says that he will not tolerate the insult of Savarkar. Will he do the same thing with Gandhi, the way Balasaheb Thackeray had thrashed the effigy of then Union minister and Congressman Mani Shankar Aiyar with shoes,” said Shinde, who was accompanied by Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
The Swatantryaveer Savarkar Gaurav Yatras across the state will be a show of strength for the nine-month-old Shinde-Fadnavis government.